Bichromatic fountain pen



A. S. REYNOSO BICHROMATIC FOUNTAIN PEN Filed sept. 24, 1959 INVENTOR Andres S. Hey/:oso www@ 'ATTORNEYS `lune 11, 1963 Patented June 11, 1963 3,093,113 BICHRGMATIC FOUNTAIN PEN Andres S. Reynoso, Valdivia, Chile Filed Sept. 24, 1959, Ser. No. 842,034 Ciairns. (Ci. 1Z0-42.16)

The object of the present invention is to provide a fountain pen which can write with two inks or writing fluids `of different colors and, more especially, to provide such a pen that allows writing to be carried out at will and at any moment, in either color of writing iluid or ink, without need for any operation other than that of rotating the fountain lpen within the fingers of the hand through an arc of 180.

Several attempts have been made to produce fountain pens which write, at will, in two or more different colors of ink. In some, different nibs are singly fed for each color of ink, but this tends either to produce a rather voluminous pen, or else ythe ink sacs have to` be too small. In other types, a single nib has been provided and fed, as preselected, from two or three ink sacs, of different colors, and the feeding is selectively controlled by some valve device, which allows only the preselected color of ink to feed the nib, at any one time. This type of pen has the serious inconvenience that, at the moment of changing one color of ink for another, a mixture of both ink colors takes place in the nib, and this contaminated mixture has to be eliminated by Writing with this pen, for a few moments, on some other Writing surface which can be discarded.

In the fountain pen of the invention this drawback has been eliminated, together with several other disadvantages, by the use of a double `or bichromatic pen nib of special construction, which allows writing to be carried out continuously with one color of ink and permits writing to be carried out at any desired moment with the other color of ink by merely turning the pen within the fingers of the hand, for 180 around its own longitudinal axis, after which the pen will immediately write in the other color of ink or writing fluid, no mixing whatsoever of the two colors having taken place at any moment.

For lling the pen with two different colors or kinds of ink or of writing liuid, novel and suitable means are provided, which allow it to be filled, without dipping the nib in an ink bottle or other source, and thus no contamination of ink colors can take place Within the nib.

It is, therefore, the principal object of the invention, to provide a fountain pen which can be used to write alternatively with either of two colors of ink or writing fluid, that is to say, a bichromatic fountain pen, which selectively uses one color of ink at a given moment, and employs a single nib built as a unit.

It is another object of the invention, to provide improved means for filling 'such a fountain pen with inks or writing iluids of different colors without any intercontamination of said inks or Writing fluids taking place, because the bichromatic nib is not dipped in an ink bottle or other source of ink or writing fluid when filling the fountain pen, since the ink sacs of the fountain pen of the invention can be filled independently of the fountain pen itself.

And finally, another object of the invention is to provide an improved clasp for holding the fountain pen securely inside the edge of a pocket, which permits easy placing of the fountain pen in such a position that the pen will be held securely and efficiently, and yet said clasp has a much longer life than that of ythe clasps used at present, and this is obtained by means that are simple and of low cost.

A better understanding of the invention will be obtained with the aid of the enclosed drawings, in which:

FIG. l is an enlarged perspective diagrammatic view of a bichrornic nib according to the invention, adapted to be used in a fountain pen according to the invention;

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are transverse sections of the nib shown in FIG. 1, taken along the lines II-II and III- III; there being no scale relation in the drawings.

FIG. 4 is on a much larger scale, a diagrammatic longitudinal section of the bichromatic nib of FIG. l, the plane of section being normal to the longitudinal separating wall of said nib;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic longitudinal section of the fountain pen of the invention taken in a plane normal to the longitudinal separating wall of the nib;

FIG. 6 is a view showing another embodiment of one of the ink sacs of the fountain pen of the invention; and

FIG. 7 shows, in section, a cap for the fountain pen, indicating details of the improved clasp.

The shape `of my nib may be visualized by imagining a nib formed by the placing together of two ordinary pen nibs, back to back with the points coinciding, but with the nibs separated by a thin partition wall. The usual slits at the end of conventional nibs are eliminated and replaced by a thin capillary slot, or channel, along the inside dorsal portion of each nib. This provides each side of said nib with a suitable ink feeder.

The bichromatic nib will write on whichever side of the point of the nib is in contact with a sheet of paper or other writing surface, while said partition wall is kept substantially parallel to the line of writing. If we now rotate the pen about its own axis for by merely turning it within the fingers of the hand, the point fed by the feeder that was previously uppermost, will now come in contact with the paper or writing surface, and writing will immediately take place in the color that was loaded into the other sac which feeds this side of the nib. Advantages of such a nib will be obvious by merely -stating a couple of examples, as for instance, ease of underlining in the text that was written, or making words stand out by using another color of ink, all of which can be carried out with no loss of time. This type of construction gives the nib, likewise, sufiicient solidity to permit carbon copies of the writing to be taken at the same time, and this has not been possible with prior art pens other than the so-called stylographs, since the `known nibs have an excess of ex-ibility. It will be observed, in any case, that at no moment do the two ink colors come in contact with each other, neither have any valves to be manually moved in order to obtain the change in color `of the writing.

Such a bichrornatic nib is shown in FIGS. l-4, wherein 11 is the thin partition wall of separation, 12 is one of the nibs with its yback in contact with said partition Wall, in the ycase of the figure, the upper one .and 13 is .the other nib. All this part is manufactured 'as :a single piece, and 14 indicates lthe capillary grooves or ch-annels which `are used instead of the -usu-al slit of ordinary nibs. Each partial nib has its own capillary groove or channel. 15 indicates the writing point proper, land has the shape of `a very small ball with two opposed grooves. Seen from in front under 'a magnifying glass, the point has a shapesomewhat similar to an upper case letter H. Tlhe writing point is made of some sui-table hand material, such as iridium or alloys having simi-lar propentries.

The complete b-ichromatic nib is placed Within a plug 16 of desired shape. The thin partition wall may be allowed slightly to protrude from the sides lof this plug, in order that it may seat more rmly within a pen tip 17 which forms p-art of 'the pen case, and which has a protruding base with external screw threads 19 for receiving a cooperating screwed part of the fbody proper 20 of the fountain pen.

Ink may be supplied to .the Ibichromatic nib by means of any of the following arrangements.

In the first embodiment, each ink feeder comprises the inking end 23, a groove 24 which forms with the corresponding nib groove 14, an ink delivering duct supplied through the tube 25, which ends in a suitable nipple 26 for receiving one end of a flexible ink sac 27. One feeder' 23 fits between each side of the nib and the tip 17, the fit being slightly conical in order that the feeder with its attached ink sac can easily 'be Withdrawn therefrom. In this embodiment, when it is desired to fill each sac with ink or Writing fluid, of a given or preselected color, the fountain pen is unscrewed at the screwed joint 19, the corresponding ink sac is removed together with its feeder, the feeder end is placed in the ink bottle or source and the sac compressed with the fingers, much like filling an ordinary dropper, and thus the sac will fill with the ink or fluid and, once filled, the feeder is put back in its place in the fountain pen and the pen body screwed back in its place. Thus at no time has the bichromatic nib ybeen introduced in the ink source, which would allow this same color of ink to wet the inner surface of the other nib side which is to work with the other color of ink or fluid. Consequently, no color contamination can take place.

1n a second embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 6, greater rigidity is given to the inl: sac by placing over the sac around the nipple 26, a thin metal ring 21 which carries a thin metal strip 22 bent -to an acute angle at the extreme upper end of the sac, as at 23, so that its end portion 2S returns down the sac on its other side to about 3A of the length of ythe sac. This greater rigidity of the sac tends to facilitate the filling operation already described and may be preferred by many users of the fountain pen of the invention. Filling is now done by squeezing together metal strips 22, 28.

The fountain pen of the invention may be placed conventionally within a pen case 20 which trnay have its corresponding cap and, if desired, may have -a conventional clasp to hold it in place in the pocket or against a suitable portion of the wearing apparel. The pen may be provided with suitable markings to indicate the colo-r of the ink Ior fluid that is available for use in a given position of the pen, -by mere inspection. Such markings will preferably be on the outside of the pen point of the fountain pen.

The pen cap may, however, be made in accordance with another embodiment which also forms part of the present invention. -It is well known that present day clasps, of the laminated spring type, are yawkward when putting the pen on the edge of a pocket, say, and it is `a fact that said clasps get deformed very easily, open out, and even break away. This is overcome in the present invention by means of a simple construction which is indicated diagrammatically in FIG. 7, in longitudinal section.

At 31 we see a soft plastic insert which serves to protect the nib when the cap closes the pen. One side 32 of the cap is shaped to an inclined plane, and the clasp proper 33 is located against this plane, the clasp being adapted :to pivot at 34 yon the side of Ithe cap, as seen in the figure. At its upper end, the clasp termina-tes in a push button 35. The insert 31 'holds in place a disk 36 which supports a spiral spring 37 compressed so that its other end acts on the inner part of the clasp 33, to keep the clasp 33 firmly pressed against the cap 32. However, when pocketing the fountain pen, holding it as usual between thumb and middle finger, the index finger may easily press on the push button part 35, and this opens the clasp away from cap 32, and the pen will drop easily into its place on .the side of the pocket, for example. On removing the hand, the clasp closes firmly due to the tension of spring 37. As a preferred construction, this clasp may be provided with a small metal disk or plaque 49, of any suitable or desired shape, which may serve as a base for decorative purposes, or for mounting thereon shields, emblems or other devices which will serve for personal adornment, or may be destined for advertising, identification, membership badges or any other purpose of similar nature.

The embodiments disclosed have been described by way of illustration and not of limitation, so that several modifications or variations may be introduced therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A bichromatic fountain -pen for selectively writing with either one of two different colors, comprising a unitary double nib, having the shape of two ordinary nibs positioned back to back with a thin dividing wall therebeween, and provided on each side with a capillary groove or channel, the Itip of said nib being in the form of a small lball made of suitable hard .metal and fed on each side by a sepanate iiuitd feeder, each feeder 'being connected to a separate flexible sac for storing the writing fluid, anda casing encircling said nib, feeders and sacs.

2. A bichromatic fountain pen as in claim 1, characterized by the fac-t that the ink feeders are dsmountable from the remainder of the pen for cleaning purposes, and said flexible sacs may be factory prelilled, and are adapted to be operatively positioned on the feeder ends as needed.

3. A bichromatic fountain pen as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that each ink feeder together with its corresponding ink sac is removable as a unit from the remainder of the pen for filling with a writing fluid.

4. A bichrornatic fountain pen as in claim 3, characterized by the fact that each flexible sac is enclosed for the greater part of its length Within a thin metallic strip.

5. A bichromatic fountain pen for selectively writing with either one of two different colors of ink, said pen comprising a unitary double nib having the shape of two ordinary nibs positioned iback to Iback, each of which is provided on its outwardly facing surface with a longitudinally extending capillary feeding groove completely separated ifrom the outwardly facing surface of the other, said nib terminating in a single ball to which said grooves lead a separate fluid feeder for each groove, each fluid feeder being connected to a separate exible supply sac for storing a writing fluid, and a casing within which said double nib, feeders and sacs are mounted. 

1. A BICHROMATIC FOUNTAIN PEN FOR SELECTIVELY WRITING WITH EITHER ONE OF TWO DIFFERENT COLORS, COMPRISING A UNITARY DOUBLE NIB, HAVING THE SHAPE OF TWO ORDINARY NIBS POSITIONED BACK TO BACK WITH A THIN DIVIDING WALL THEREBETWEEN, AND PROVIDED ON EACH SIDE WITH A CAPILLARY GROOVE OR CHANNEL, THE TIP OF SAID NIB BEING IN THE FORM OF A SMALL BALL MADE OF SUITABLE HARD METAL AND FED ON EACH SIDE BY A SEPARATE FLUID FEEDER, EACH FEEDER BEING CON- 